1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to the fields of aircraft and jacks for lifting aircraft wheels for inspection and/or servicing. It relates more particularly to a lifting device for raising the main wheel assemblies of a tricycle or tail wheel landing gear.
2. Description of Related Art
The front and main wheel assemblies of a light aircraft equipped with a tricycle landing gear (e.g., the light aircraft sold under the trademark CESSNA, including models 172, 150, 172, 172RG, 175, 170, 182, 206, RV's, and Mustang II), must occasionally be raised relative to the pavement or other horizontal support surface for inspection and/or servicing purposes. Existing devices for doing this include heavy duty hydraulic jacks and the inconvenience of moving them from a shop or hangar to a remotely located aircraft. Some existing devices grip the propeller. Others bear upwardly on the underside of the wings. In either case, the user must exercise great care to avoid damaging the propeller, motor mounts, wings, and other components of the aircraft.
Some main-wheel-assembly lifting devices attempt to avoid damage by lifting the main struts of the tricycle land gear. A jack pad is provided that grips a selected one of the left and right main struts so that accompanying jack components can apply lifting force to the strut via the jack pad. Doing so lifts the wheel assembly. Although effective in some respects, existing jack pads must be reconfigured and readjusted, or disassembled and reassembled, according to which of the left and right struts they are to grip for any particular lifting operation. That must be done because the struts are tapered; they increase in width toward the fuselage, with a forward edge of the strut extending parallel to the lateral axis of the airplane and a rearward edge inclined. In addition, such existing jack pads have only limited adjustability. Furthermore, they can scratch, mark, or otherwise mar the struts, and they are prone to fall free from the struts during placement for use on the struts.